I mostly watched the WSU/BYU game, so I can't comment much on the others. What I saw of ASU was impressive. Utah looked solid as ever. UCLA appeared flawed on defense and execution. But, I watched maybe 5 minutes of each of those games. Pretty sure I saw some read option from each of those teams, though. Not good news for the Beavs D or Mark Banker.

Washington State…they had issues (looked a lot like the Beavs, actually, shanking punts, playing nervous, etc), but BYU is probably better than everyone in the Pac-12 other than Oregon and USC. Dumbos like "BendBeaver" are already claiming the Mike Leach era is a failure (lol!) after 1 game, but they're willing to give Riley 12 years (keep in mind, Riley is 0-2 vs BYU, games played on a neutral site and at home). Hilarious! Leach probably needs to recruit his own QB and get him in the system before anyone can judge.

BYU looks tough. They're a group of intense, 30 year old men. Beavs will have their hands full.

Yeah… to be fair, bendbeaver did state long ago that he thought the Leach hype was too much, and his comments yesterday were supportive of that concept in a general context, not just for one game. I’ve pretty much stayed out of the argument because I just want to wait and see. If Leach’s career tracks like it did at TTech, then he’ll be Mike Riley on the Palouse… with one conference championship instead of none.

Yay?

What he is very good at is speaking to his players, boosters and fans. He can rally a community around his team like very few coaches can considering his slightly better than average record. He stresses academics and personal development as essential for his players to become successful both on and off the field, and he gets impressive results in that department.

Leach seems to be the “Brian Wilson” of college football coaching. Certainly a genious in some aspects, but when you look at his eyes something is not quite normal (And referring to Beach Boy, not SF relief pitcher).

Leach is still working with Wulff’s talent. So wouldn’t expect much. But always play them like they are good. Otherwise they could surprise teams. They will get better throughout the year and get more comfortable in Leach’s offense.

ASU as expected dominated. Appeared to have the physical edge everywhere. Real test in 2 weeks vs Missouri.

Also, FYI on Pac 12 network. Which I get just fine, was able to watch a portion of the ASU game. Presentation looked on par with ESPN. 100% better than fox sports.

These games went as expected. The game that I think is a must watch is the UW/SDSU game. UW is playing at Century Link this year but they aren’t selling it out. The place is rocking when it’s full and a night game.

Talked to Directv.. they seem pretty confident a deal will get done. Guess we will see. She tried to offer me ESPN gameplan for free, saying that would offer some games… so she read the games off. Surprise… no PAC-12 games… Hah. I hate this corporate monopolistic BS, at least give me some option to pay without switching the TV provider I am happy with. I mean I am willing to pay and not pirate.. and I can’t do it. Here is the supposedly take it or leave it deal that DTV offered the PAC-12… seems really reasonable to me and everyone in the NW gets it for free(no sports pack etc)
DIRECTV will carry PAC-12 Network National ONLY 24/7 on Channel 626, with alternate channels turned on only during overflow football games. All other overflow events will be streamed at PAC-12.com via authenticated access. PAC-12 National will be on Choice Xtra in the 6 PAC-12 states (WA, OR, CA, AZ, UT, CO) and Sports Pack elsewhere.

I don’t see what isn’t fair about that. I know the pac-12 wanted all of the channels But seriously aside from football games, basketball and baseball that could be made availalbe on the over-flow what is there going to be on the Oregon channel that anyone will tune in for? swim meets, club sport events, frisbee in front of the memorial union?

That’s kind of the point. It’s a chicken/egg thing. If the billionaire alum who loves artistic cycling doesn’t see his school competing in that event on his/her TV, then said billionaire alum will never watch his/her school playing any sport.

There are many sports I wouldn’t mind watching for fun. Hell, I’d rather watch our womens soccer team play than watch our football team play Nicholls State. I was just so excited about that practice… I mean… game. Still if I can get authentication for the regional channels with my Directv subscription without having to purchase an extra sports tier, then I would rather do that than pay the extra tier for just live TV.

I agree that Utah-BYU should be a good game this year.
Otherwise it was really hard to learn much last night from the Pac-12 teams, except WSU. The rest all won convincingly as expected, though UCLA kept it closer than expected until late.

Leach doesn’t have the horses yet at receiver or running back. What people forget is that Texas Tech actually had some pretty good ground games while he was there. Wazzu had negative yards rushing and that’s hard for any passing game – BYU could send their LBs out into passing lanes to deflect balls and wreak havoc.

Texas Tech routinely had a poor running game. “Pretty good ground games” is incorrect. In 2007 they had the worst rushing attack in D-1. Next year they were about 95th in the country in rushing. He was never known for a good rushing attack.

In 2008, TT’s top 2 RBs combined for 254 carries and nearly 1500 yards (yes almost 6 yards per carry), and 19 TDs. I’d say that is pretty effective, especially with a QB that throws for over 5,000 yards

We have #12 Wisconsin coming to town in a week meanwhile the Riley is tweeting: Just had a GREAT team meeting, guys are upbeat and positive, **no practice**, lifting today and then headed to the movies. Glad for the team spirit but I’d be running the team through every practice possible.

I wouldn’t mind some East Coast exposure. Playing a non-con game in Philadelphia in a pro stadium (granted, in front of nobody)? I like that kind of trip to a Big East foe… rather than some football power inviting us for the slaughter.

We could have had a nice upgrade in our schedule and avoided a guaranteed useless home date (we’ll take a game on 12/1 home or away if it’s earned). If it was offered and turned down, then I can only hope it was due to finances and nothing else.

I simply cannot believe going THERE to play Temple (after they backed out of the return game from earlier in the previous decade) was even under consideration. Thank God they said NO to prevent DeCarolis from compounding what was already a mis-handled situation. Unbelievable. I say to hell with the 12th game, and sue Nicholls State for breach of contract

Isn’t there a limit on practice hours in a week? So just because there is no game this week does not give us a extension on the amount of hours to practice. So giving the players Thursday off does not make Riley soft but allows for a full practice on Saturday right?

I think this is inhospitable and ridiculous. Kiffin continues to look like, in my view, a major jerk.

RE Leach – I’m not surprised with the rough start. But it’s way too early to judge. I still think that combining Leach with the Beaver’s current roster strengths (qb, skill players, young but emerging o-line) would have made for an effective, entertaining, winning offense in about 2 years or less. The skill players would love it, the RB’s would benefit too.

I watched most of the games (Ucla, ASU, Utah and WSU). It’s the first game of the season so teams are going to look better than they are and not as bad as they are.

Couple of observations: there are some good freshmen in the league this year. Hundley looked real good (yes he made some mistakes, but qb’s do that) for the most part he passed accurately and ran very well. Their defense made some plays with their athleticism (returned a fumble for TD), but they also were giving up a lot of yards in the first half and looked confused. In the second half they seemed to tighten things up.

Utah looked really solid on Defense, but Nor Col was terrible and it looked like their first game. Droping snaps, penalties, time management etc. I was really impressed with Utah’s Freshmen qb who is 6–7, but has some speed and he was used quite bit in the wildcat down in the red zone. Wynn I thought was average, which was a surprise.

WSU looked bad, weak, and confused. They were physically dominated on both sides of the ball. Tuel for the most part was ineffective, however he was under a heavy pass rush. They just look like they were not 100% confident with the new system and that something to be expected with a new staff. BYU did look good moving the ball in the middle of the field, but Bill’s right their red zone offense left a little to be desired. They were flying around with a ton of energy, Provo will be a tough place to play.

ASU surprised me the most. They were disiciplined, crisp, and also had alot of young guys make a ton of plays. On defense their first stringers dominated. Now NAU was starting a FR at qb so you can it take with a grain of salt. What I did see from their spread looked alot like UO, and they had open receivers and big holes to run in. Their backups saw plenty of action too.

That would be a good one actually. Only negative would be if they were the 2nd Big Sky team in a row to beat us. We’ve played EWU before and they wouldn’t have to travel far. I actually hope this happens.

I must disagree with everyone here. I like this game were it to happen. Other than the usual Pac trips, all the team gets this year is a trip to Provo?

Yippee? Beautiful country spoiled by ugly people?

Let them bond on a trip to the cradle of American history… against a team they can actually beat… in a great stadium (angry knows what I’m talking about since I assume he’s been to the Vet… back when the Vet was beating up on Santa).

Yes, travel is tiring and costs abound. Boo hoo!

I guess OSU has never claimed “anyone, anywhere.” So there’s no pride lost. Still, it would be cool for the kids on the team if for nobody else.

they can visit the sites on their own time and dime. This has to be looked at as business transaction and not a cultural exchange program. I say put all the effort into getting EWU into town. If that doesn’t work, to hell with Nicholls and 12 games besides.

Riley is just being Riley, no change, never will. As far as I am concerned the team need every minute of practice, workout, film room, etc. that they can squeeze in before the Wisconsin game. But Riley does this all the time. Before several Civil War games, around Thanksgiving, he cut practice and set the players home. During the same time, Oregon coach Chip Kelley had practices the whole week, closed at that, right up until game day……..and they were so good they didn’t need to practice. Just another example of Riley mind set, thats why we have two losing seasons under our belt. Another couple of months should tell the real story.

I’m waiting to see with the Wisconsin game, if the Beavs are in good enough shape to play 4 full quarters against them. We will have to if we expect a chance to win.

bendbeaver……..big talk but what if WSU comes to town on Oct 6th and whips our butts………….it could happen.

I’ll up the ante and make even bigger talk: Poyer and Reynolds get one pick each, and three Tuel sandwiches between slices of Crichton and Wynn. If the Cougs whip the Beavs butt I suck worse than Riley and BDC combined!

i’ve been in seattle the last couple days, and was last night. i’m always amazed at how the cougar fans i know get so excited before they actually see any results. i went to the osu-wsu game in seattle last year and before the game paul wulff should have been coach of the year to half of them. i’m sure leach is going to do good things there, but last night was a reminder that at the end of the day they are sorely lacking talent. wilson and tuel could be enough to beat us though.

here’s my thing with the nicholls state game (sorry if this has been said)- if that game isn’t replaced with another home game this season, it will be a failure of epic proportions for an athletic department in major college athletics. play linfield on christmas eve, i don’t give a shit. even if it isn’t for a bowl game. it’s the principle. this game was scheduled almost exactly one year ago now, not to mention that getting a blowout win would be really big for a young group who probably won’t have a ton of success would be big, even if it’s in an irrelevant game played on december 1st.

Their DB’s are suspect, have been beaten several times tonight. In fact, this game should be tied as SJS dropped a sure TD pass hit him right in the hands and he had the db beat but he dropped it. Right now its 17-10

Yes, also when you start a QB who had thrown 2 passes his entire career, there’s gonna be some issues and Shaw was a little conservative with him with it being his first career start. He made some really good throws like the deep ball late in the 4th that his WR dropped inside the 10. Nunes should be fine for Stanford. I like some of his throws, once he gets more comfortable in the offense, the team as a whole should be alright.

Last year Stanford beat San Jose State 57-3. SJSU only held one team below 24 points all year. San Jose is supposed to be a little better than they were last year but that Stanford offense looks baaad.

“Undoubtedly, the Falcons will try to sneak some of these players through waivers, and bring them back for the practice squad, which can be announced on Sept.1. Safe bet that James Rodgers falls into that category if indeed he has been waived.”

I feel so sorry for all you Riley lovers who are posting. Hoping down the road to pounce on teams who are re-building just to get a lousy win here and there. Even if some wins so occur it will not reflect that our team is good or that Riley is doing a good job. It just means that we can beat the bottom of the barrel, that Beaver fans will settle for mediocre football again, that we will not get phase 3 of our stadium built, that hopes are up for a low end toilet bowl, and that the expectations for the team reflects the low standards Beaver Nation is willing to accept.

You guys talk and bad mouth WSU, Stanford and others about being “so bad” but Riley hasn’t had a chance to show us anything yet. Save your comments until we play Wisconsin and lets see what MR’s play calling does to promote a win……or loss. At least other teams in the conference are attempting to improver their programs and reaching for Championship status, not mediocre football. Remember all Riley wants to do is keep his pathetic job not get the Beavs to a BCS bowl.

Haha! I know there’s a few people who just don’t like Riley but remember the grass isn’t always greener. Stanford’s coach is a zero. WSU’s coach is a weirdo. Would you actually rather have one of those guys coach at Corvallis?

Regarding the postponed game, I remember a situation during Ron McBride’s last year in Utah where for whatever reason the Utes only had 11 games scheduled and were sitting at 5-6. Weber St. which is about 40 miles North of SLC was willing to play the Utes to get them to 6-6 and a bowl game and McBride was lobbying hard for the game.

AD Chris Hill said no and subsequently fired McBride after the season for inconsistency. We all know where Urban Meyer was able to take the program and even Kyle Whittingham. Would BDC ever be that “sly”, knowing another losing season would help his case? I think McBride’s and Riley’s careers are somewhat similiar excluding Riley’s NFL sidetour. We’ll see if another game gets scheduled and what happens after another losing season. Many pundits had this team at 6-6 before the postponing.

this is an intriguing theory but there’s nothing in BDC’s history to facilitate the conclusion he could be this Machiavellian. In fact, with the Nicholls episode in hand, we have recent evidence he is naive.

Machiavellian is a good word and I agree with you regarding BDC. Chris Hill at Utah knew McBride had peaked. McBride bleed Ute red and was a player and fan favorite, so Hill took a lot of heat, but look where the football program went after that.

Coaches can’t make comments like this for just a commitment. Only when someone is signed or enrolled can they comment directly to recruiting. That’s why you get code like IAGDTBAB on Tweets. So the direct announcement like this always makes me think someone associated with the school had a kid.

But now that I think about it, the timing is also right for walk-ons who have enrolled and want to play. I think a kid from LBCC enrolled and talked to Coach Rob about walking on. Kelly Christensen was a G/F for them last year as a soph, and I think he’s going to OSU to try to do this. I recall the name from last spring sometime. So that would be my guess.

OSU has perhaps the best non-conference matchup in Reser history next Saturday. The time to take center stage and highlight Oregon St. is now. The players need to play relentlessly and like men on fire. A lot can be accomplished if you are united in refusing to lose. Riley and the program really need a high profile TV win to right the ship and start the season well. Scheduling a game on Sept. 15th at Reser also is important to have another tuneup before Pac-12 play. Will the Beavers be average this Saturday or find something great?

OK… now I get it. Straight from the big guy himself. BDC was here spraying some Roundup around the ticket booths. He gave me the scoop about the cancellation and apologized for the confusion.

He offered me a 50 gallon bag of popcorn for my “inconvenience” says he “can’t give the damn stuff away”. I was going to accept until my wife noticed the “Sell by 4-30-99” next to the Chinese writing on the bag. We declined.

BDC also told me that I-5 south is at a virtual standstill. Lots of early Labor Day traffic heading south.

BDC wanted to postpone the game because they did not have time to paint the playing surface Orange. The Beavs will wear orange jerseys against Wisconsin and at all home games. This particular color scheme of orange field and uniforms has never been used before and surely opponents will not be able to find the ball carrier. This is a real solution to the lack of a running game. . BDC just signed Union 76 as a sponsor of game balls so the footballs will also be orange. Part of the agreement was that Union 76 had to use the slogan “Powered by Orange” on all of their gas pumps. Union 76 demanded that all football players arrested for DUII would work the pumps at Corvallis and Philomath gas stations to help promote the brand with 2 cents of every gallon sold going to phase 3 of the Reser expansion.

Anyone notice the player still on the practice field in his workout gear standing behind Mike Riley during the interview talking on his cell phone. I wonder how many coaches allow players to bring cell phones to practice?

Through this whole cancellation process, I’ve been a little upset I was looking forward to the game, had the day off work and everything. Even when the game was cancelled I wasn’t angry….but that changed the moment I went to work today! All I wanted to do was to watch some football with my friends and drink! THANKS A LOT HURRICANE ISSAC, YOU SUCK!!!

Hopefully Wisconsin doesn’t get snowed in and can make it here, they are beatable!

You’re right Bone, the Badgers are beatable, looks like WSU is beatable, Stanford a possibility. So the beavs beat up on poor broken, re-building, down in the dumps teams. What does that show, that we can win bottom level teams? Now tha’ts something to brag about.

Wisconsin lost most of their offensive and special team players. The one big difference is down the road, with a coach that wants to be in National Contention, the Badgers will reach that goal.

So when other teams go through a rebuilding year after losing player, they get a pass? But when Oregon state goes through one the sky falls? Where’s the logic in that?

I know I take apologist stances a lot of times, even if it is an unpopular stance on this site, one thing I am not sure if you realize is that you fightigbeaver are very much an apologist also. You just won’t be one for Oregon state. I don’t see you standing up for the fact that we lost two of the best Players in this programs history going into last season, replacing basically an entire defense, new quarterback. But if another team does, you are one of the first to point it out. And if their coach wants national contention, why are they going through a rebuilding year?

I had Wisconsin as a winnable game before I saw them play today, it is going to take a great team effort, but I could see them winning it. Hope to see you September 8th, I’ll be there. GO BEAVS.

PAC12 logo’s highlighted in school colors. USC has Pac12 logo in white with RED background. Ducks have white Pac12 logo with GREEN field as background. Arizona has white Pac12 logo with BLUE background and blue/red shield outline. Do Beavers have ORANGE background? The answer is a big fat NO. Why? Because Bob Dee Care Less can not think in a “pro-active” way. He thinks like an old Fuddy Duddy and is forced to do new things while under pressure from others. We need a young and energetic Athletic Director like Arizona has now.

You know, its a real neat deal that our good coach doesnt get even the slightest bit out of sorts when the team gets its ass kicked, or a team scheduled to play us here doent bother to show up, or we dont recruit much and have to use walkons…..

…cause even a wee bit of loose anger might spill over to the players…..and gosh darn it, the last thing you want with college football players is any of them getting unsatisfied with mediocrity. …. playing with emotion …. or heavens, wanting to WIN…

What color is the endzone for each of the teams above? Oregon’s is Green, USC’s is red, Arizona’s is red lettering, but the Pac-12 logo’s mountain/wave esque look is blue. So it just happens to be that the Red/Blue matches Arizona’s colors. It has to do with the endzones…not the team/universities color(s).

So, I found this on Twitter…MR uses the word “friends” when discussing the Nicholls State team…Does he really think that every football team as friends? Why not look at them as competition or better yet, enemies?! Idk, am I grasping at straws because I want to see the body of work the Beavers have put in and see where they are at currently?!

Mike Riley ?@Coach_Riley
I’m sad for our guys that they wont be able to play Saturday, but the safety of our friends at Nicholls State comes first. Stay Safe.

I think it’ll be in a week or 3. 😉 Mark my words, Mannion will throw for around 250+ next week against Wisconsin. Running game might be 50-75. I have a feeling we’ll have to beat them with the pass vs. the run. Doesn’t mean Mannion won’t throw INT’s, but I think he’ll be inconsistent at first, but calm down and become consistent. This is his team and he is a captain after all. He has the poise to calm himself and keep himself focused.

True, I just mean by October Mannion won’t be turning it over and will become even better in the passing game and the O-Line will improve to a point where he’ll be able to stand in there and just pick secondaries apart. I think he will put up some big #’s

Quite the bold prediction, beavers4 life, since mighty Northern Iowa threw for 265 yards. I’m going to say 350+ and 120 rushing. He’s got a year under his belt, so it’s not his jitters I worry about, it’s the peach fuzz o-line that need to be confident.

and even his rushing stats were inflated by those two runs at the end of the game when UW was more worried about the clock running out that what Katz could do. In fact, his last run was Anderson-esque. Last night was vintage Katz; quick to run out of the pocket; not more than one check-down; untimely pick. Take away the trick play TD and it’s all much worse that what the stats show. Have to credit Riley with this one; Mannion is the better prospect. Riley just didn’t have the courage of his convictions and go with Mannion from the get-go–vintage Riles.

I thought it was interesting and a little odd that The Oregonian’s story about the Ducks today had some focus on fan’s being bored with Oregon’s non-conference schedule and they quoted a person or two who left the game early. In the past, a blow-out Duck win would be all peaches and cream.
Canzano jumped on the hype of Mariota after one game, but that’s to be expected. I’m not saying Mariota might not be an elite QB, but I would think the expectation now with the Duck program will be how he plays against USC. It looks like for the near future that’s the only game that is going to matter.

I need some clarification on defensive holding. Just saw Nevada get called for defensive holding on their DE on a sweep running play by Cal. I thought defense could only hold on passing plays? Obviously I’m missing something. Thanks in advance to anyone who can explain this for me.

Any defensive player can be called for holding. It’s rare but let’s say a blitz is coming, Sometimes the dlineman will try to take on two lineman. He’ll hold the second oline man to let the blitzer in unblocked. It’s usually by the collar

A defensive player usually doesn’t get called for grabbing and throwing an offensive player if he’s being blocked by said o-player and gains an advantage for himself. If the defender grabs and moves (or stalls) an o-player to the advantage of one of his teammates, it should be called. I think it was touched on above. Say the NT grabs the C and drags him out of the A gap so his MLB can run through the hole. That’s a foul. But if he grabs the C, throws him aside and moves through the hole himself it won’t be called.

WSU, Colorado (just saw highlights), and Cal were just bad. USC was scary good. Oregon was arrogant against a non-opponent who still scored on them (there are kinks in their armor). Utah looked really good. ASU looked good. UCLA is a better team this year but defense is weakness. I wasn’t super impressed with Standford (didn’t look good on runs up the middle). Huskey’s defense very suspect (Katz was really good but had no supporting cast to win). I didn’t see Arizona.

What I saw of Wisconsin they look tough and Noodlehisal said it was going to come down to who wins in the trenches. Doesn’t every game?

I was most surprised by ASU. They led 42 to nothing at half. I thought Utah’s D was excellent but their O needs work. Utah didn’t score in the 1st Q, and Northern Colorado was probably worst of all the opponents the Pac-12 faced. I was surprised the Huskies didn’t put up more points. And the highly hyped O-lines from both Wisconsin and Stanford aren’t as good as advertised.

Observations. Leach has been out of coaching for two years. Only fools would pass judgement about Leach/WSU after one game. This was perfectly predictable… for now. BYU had their opponent at a time when WSU had no feel for the speed of D1 football. They, BYU are good but not that good. Time and Riley Nelson will tell. Josh Nunes is a certified union telegrapher. He locks on to his target from the snap. That is not a good sign for Stanford, especially with mediocre receivers. Utah played one of the worst teams in a lower division. It is not possible to tell yet anything about Utah. USC played a lousy team also. But they have serious weapons. I like Rocky Long a lot. But he has brain freezes and it cost him a job at New Mexico and a game with Washington. Hard to tell about Washington yet since Rocky handed them a bone. Cal lost to a very well prepared Nevada team. Do not count Cal completely out yet. They are very capable of an upset and will play bipolar this year. UCLA does not have all the right pieces in all of the right places yet and will have to keep Hundley healthy to survive. Colorado got ambushed. Who knows about the Buffs? This was a much better start for the Ducks. I expected the Red Wolves to play them close. Over a long season, they have more depth, and ability to overcome injuries than USC. Zona is ok, Toledo better than you might think. But Zona should have scored more points. ASU looked dangerous and before it is over we will rue the day that Obum’s cousin went south.This is the best chance the Beavs have had in some time for an upset. I know that they traditionally start slow. If the offense is in sync, I believe that they can score more points than the Badgers. The new Badger qb is not yet ready for a shoot out.

Yes he did resign. He did the honorable thing when he saw signs of desinegration in the program. For this I give him an A+. But he is an artist with big ideas as a coach. This personality is best suited to coordinator. He can inspire and scheme. But he needs a more detailer planner and counterbalance to be successful.

My neighbor bought 2 of the Groupon promos at the last minute and took me and his two high school age sons to the Oregon game.
As far as the helmets are concerned, both of the boys (16 and 17 years old) loved them. They could not stop talking about the “cool factor”. They did change color as the sun went down. The rest of the uniforms were pretty much like updated version of their school colors.
For everyone who thinks the new uniforms are horrible, I bet you also thought all of the other Duck uniforms were also horrible.
So you still don’t get what they are achieving with them, appealing to a targeted age group of recruits. More than one recruit has said that being able to have input on new uniforms and having something cutting edge is one of the things that make Oregon stand out from other schools.
In today’s competitive recruiting world, everything counts. If this uniform thing was producing bad results, then the recruiting would suffer. Since their recruiting appears to be very solid the last 4-5 years, I think it is working.
The Beavs need a “gotcha” that appeals to recruits that differentiate them and makes these kids feel special when they play for OSU!

bowlgame I agree. But it’s not only the uniforms that attract the youth, the fans and even national attention there is the “cool” video’s and music the football program helps produce. All of these things and more from the Ducks produce excitement and electricity. All of this is the result of a pro-active program and WINING!

OSU needs a young energetic AD like Arizona and a head coach and staff that instills in their players that the goal is being champions. We will not achieve any of what the ducks have with out changes, major changes. I remember the wining days of packed stadium, Fiesta Bowl and an AD and head coach that knew the power of fans. Those days are gone for now.

I agree! I don’t understand why we don’t paint our field all orange or black and orange or all black. The AD cant be this conservative, is there an other factor stopping him from making significant changes? We do need some hype, we can’t expect to get the same result doing it the old way. I’m sick of not progressing. I feel like the school is trying to dig it’s way out of a hole with grandpas’ old shovel instead of using a backhoe!

We aren’t painting the entire field because that would look terrible. There are some things you don’t change, the color of the field is one of them. You can mess around with the end zones (checkerboard, we had it before Tennessee, I want it to make a return). But as far as the field, keep it green!

Except grandpa’s shovel still works. The backhoe was repo’d. I thought we learned something in 2007-8 about house flippers and spend thrifts. Yes, a better image needs to be built. But you can’t just go out and buy one and then have success for any length of time. OS isn’t a trust fund baby no matter what the PAC 12 contract brings. How about earning success and respect ?

We had both for a number of years, but we continued to use the same methods to recruit and build our program. I hate the ducks and am more of a traditionalist when it comes to sports but we won’t win if we can’t recruit. If we are going to do it the old way, then let’s start with recruiting kids from the JC’s.

I have to say, I think that is one aspect the Ducks have bought into, and it surely does appeal to the Transformers mentality, of a cool gimmick. But they have a lot of money aspects to use…..updated facilities, a forward thinking coach, a new age high energy mode of scheming the game, and even the playing fast.

I dont think this all is an accident, and smacks of a whole concept they are implementing.

But … there is money in and behind a lot of top end programs, and there are some very established programs that are not doing that. USC is an easy example. I never liked the color combo of red and gold, and have thought for a long time that their uniforms dont look as good as they could be made to look, even keeping the basic design.

Tradition and the aspect of putting guys into the NFL clearly still work.

What should OSU do? Good question. It doesnt have the money to use, but some innovative thinking could surely come up with more than we are being given. …and not cost an arm and a leg.

Just an image of a new, aggressive will and desire to win would do something.

I think we got played by NS for instance. Delaying the NS game is really good for them. Get us at the end of a season like an additional bowl game, instead of at the start of a season when we are likely to whip them. So their coach makes sure the players get lost. Other teams in that same area didnt have trouble having games the same weekend. We look weak and wussy.

And the worst thing we could do, imo, is do a weak copy of UO. Hey, maybe our fate is in fact to be little brother. But we dont seem to be doing anything. We need some creative thinkers.

Agree that copying the ducks in any way is the worst idea possible. In fact I think being the antithesis of UO is the best idea. Flat colors. Simple unis. Old school feel with modern materials. Make shitty attitude,hard nosed football the identity all year,every year. We’re not going to flutter around and trick you, we’re gonna break your dick off and jam it down your throat.

Erickson’s Fiesta Team was current and of the moment. We were as cool and as much with the times as the Ducks as recently as a decade ago. I think we need a visual hook and agree with instilling more toughness and winning attitude into the team. I think it is best for OSU to be current and not overly focused on a mediocre past. We need to be forging ahead and forming a better identity with results on the field that will spur interest in OSU. The Okie State unis are along the lines of what I want but with our OSU’s branding and better. You can be current, cool, tough and have nods to tradition all at the same time.

The problem with this line of reasoning is found on an internet story this week. USA falls to 7th place in world competitiveness. I also received an economic summary in the mail yesterday that showed USA had dropped in standard of living and education . There is nothing inherently wrong with style and attracting a certain audience. But when you overemphasize flash at the expense of substance then you end up with a team or society that is screwed in the long run. I kinda like the Duck uniforms myself and hope that the Beavers can improve in this area. But I do not see a lot of emphasis on incremental improvement of product or much analysis about improving efficiencies in these discussions. It mostly seems that we talk about firing the coach, spending obscene amounts of money on a flashy new AD and coach and dressing the team up as though they were twenty first century Ken and Barbie Avatars. This has worked out pretty well for the O recently but remember, Prefontaine died a long time ago and they, the Ducks, are still trying to milk the cutting edge rebel image. Do you not think that he would roll over in his grave if he knew that his image had been warped and skewed as much as it has? But I digress. You do not have to imitate or covet your neighbor’s wife in order to be successful. That is for the progeny of sheepherders and sheep.

Nothing wrong with a good “challenge” for players. It’s part of training and a very common way of motivating them into doing better. A good coaching staff finds out where they fell short in training or adjusts the training to improve the performance of their players.

The overall responsibility for players to be in shape, to execute plays and be ready for each game is that of the coaching staff. That’s what they get paid to do.

Actually the quote in the Oregonian was “It was wonderful everyone got a chance to play,” Alliotti said. “I just would have liked that when they got a chance to play that we would have performed a little bit better.”
You must have gotten your quote from FOX NEWs, they always provide a “different” perspective.

I don’t see in any post that it was mentioned to copy the Ducks in any way. It was just noted on how they use pro-active methods to instill excitement into their fan base and how successful they were in accomplishing this.

Yes, money is the deciding factor in implementing pro-active ideas for the team and fans. Outside of Uncle Phil, the ducks bring in money through great attendance, sale of duck gear, donations, national television, etc. The bottom line is money starts rolling in when you WIN.

When you win you can write your own ticket. Some teams stay traditional and some go in other directions. But the major money comes from wining, not losing.

We’re going to talk about Nikegon unis? After I got done laughing my ass off because it wasn’t even an original idea…http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Bjork_Hurricane.jpg
… I also noted that they weren’t uniforms. I thought the inconsistent dark patches they put on Wazzu’s bellies and lower backs were just Nike’s way of playing a prank on them. But those ugly blotches which make these costumes nonuniform just bug the hell out of me. They bug me a whole lot more than players who wear different socks and shoes when they’re supposed to be uniforms.

The thing is… they get to be outlandish and ugly. They started this crap, and everyone else is just a wannabe. Because we know 18 year-old males are making fashion decisions on a weekly basis we forgive Nikegon for everything garish, obnoxious or just plain dumb. They get some good combos in every once in a while. But their style is to not have a style. And they’re the only school who can rightfully claim no style.

Kids think it’s cool? It’s not cool unless it has staying power. How many stupid fashion items have been cool in the moment yet proved to be just asinine in the end?

If the Oregon image/brand is fashion, excitement and winning at fashionable sports, if the Stanford image is excellence over many men/women sports and the Stanrord degree symbolizing a lifetime ticket to the gravy train, if the USC image/brand is Hollywood and the national spotlight in football, what should the Oregon State brand represent? Does it have to be centered on football or basketball or could they be just arrows in the quiver? UCLA lives on a legacy of basketball and education. Cal is good at some minor sports but likes to project itself as above the fray. Their fans however are pissed at Tedford and will only be mollified if the Bears beat both USC and Stanford. What is it they you guys want to have represented? What is this brand thing and why is it so important to purchase a brand image rather than to manufacture and project an image? Enough of the whining and envy. What should the Oregon State brand represent?

I don’t know that it’s necessarily whining and envy; I think there’s a generally held opinion that OSU’s look is unfocused and lacks vision and cohesion across sports. The lacrosse uniforms – with orange chrome looking facemasks – look more like an “Oregon” effort than other OSU sport uniforms for example. Some sports have some looks that appear more traditional.

I would say the OSU brand represents a “traditional” school, as opposed to Oregon which is explicitly atraditional – it’s like they realized “We don’t have a real football tradition, so we’ll just take an atraditional approach and become recognized for that.”

OSU’s “old” tradition is probably that of a hard-nosed competitive school (e.g. Giant Killers, early track, Ralph Miller basketball). Then there’s the 28-season football losing streak, which the school implicitly acknowledges by holding Riley to mediocre standards – “At least its not a 28-year losing streak!”

So a brand I would argue for would be a traditional school that changes slowly, and deliberately (as opposed to weekly down in Eugene), but is competitive – it enters the contest believing it can win and competes well and consistently by excelling at fundamentals. Products would have some modern tweaks and high quality to generate fan interest, provide merchandise “wear-ability,” and increase sales.

I think the Giant Killer uniforms were a good effort at that, and needed a few adjustments – narrower white stripes on helmet, jersey numerals not so tall. I think an orange facemask would be an effective, progressive variation. And I think OSU should be wearing black unis at home and hitting the hell out of opponents.

Rivals had a link up for a bit that they took down shortly thereafter. It’s for the uni’s Byte linked here. I think they’re sick! Can’t wait to be rep’n orange next weekend, screaming my head off! Bring on the badgers!

I thought OSU wears black at home. Black uniforms have been OSU’s staple for as long as I can remember. Those orange uniforms look like something Syracuse or Clemson would wear…or something that some attention starved brat would wear while telling everyone how cool they are. I don’t want to see Beavs copy the Ducks with the ever changing outlandish uniforms.

What a difference a solid AD can make, take a look at Utahs accomplishments.

Made it into PAC (we lose games in LA)
Gets home and home with Michigan. (we only get an away)
Gets first game on new Pac12 network. (we were not to be seen outside of OR)
Secures awesome building schedule in difficulty and local interest. No col, Utah state, byu.
(we now miss nich st and jump right into it)
Builds extra days into schedule 1st game thurs, 2nd game Friday, 3rd game Saturday.

And I’m sure you guys can come up with more… What can your AD do for you?…

First and foremost is to start fund raiser for Reser Stadium phase 3. This should have started years ago. We need to keep up with other Pac 12 seating capabilities. If we wait too long construction cost’s will skyrocket.

Better scheduling of pre-season games.

I would like to see a LIVE Beaver mascot along with Benny. Other teams have live mascots (I attended LSU game and their live Tiger energized fans and players alike. No animal abuse here, we have one of the best Veterinary schools in the country to take good care of him and there are hundreds of orphaned beavers across the country who need adopting. Naming contest and live beaver at center of field before each game.

Better produced (professional) pre game video to show before each game.

more backbone when it comes to scheduling, like the non-conference games, and more generally defending the interests of all the school’s teams, such as missing out on the baseball tourney in 08 or last year’s seeding.

Ugh, 4th o-lineman to leave in the last 6 months (garner, Beaton, vieru, welch). This is probably the #1 thing that scares me about this season: we can barely fill a 2-deep on the o-line! And the only way we can do it at all is with undersized true freshmen and undersized walkons.

Was talking with some friends earlier about Welch and this was brought up and I felt it was worth sharing:

Sucks losing Welch, as i was hoping he be a good backup. But again, I think this is a case of a guy getting passed over by a younger guy:

(1) Addie (RSF) was backing up LG
(2) Welch (RSF) was backing up RG
(3) Mitchell (True Fresh) jumped Addie as back up at LG
(4) Addie mostly likely jumped Welch at RG…this is what should happen, Addie was a 3-star RSF, Welch is a walk-on.
(5) Welch drops to 3rd string RG/LG
(6) Sucks, as we need depth
(7) But, also good, as it shows how solid this last class of OL’s were. Also, as much as I wanted Welch to stick around, he was a walk-on.

So, out of the 26 players on the offense 2-deep (including fullback and H-back), here is the breakdown:
Seniors: 4
Juniors: 6
Sophomores: 9 (3 of which are true juniors)
Freshman: 7 (3 of which are true freshmen)

Crazy thing is, for as young as we are, we still return 9 out of the 13 starters (including FB and H-back).

PBH, you really turning the corner aren’t you? Between you being funny as shit lately and Jack backing off the unnecessary put-downs and negativity, it’s almost starting to feel warm and fuzzy in here. We might even squeeze in a group hug before we resume our online fistfights as soon as the season starts this Saturday.

Beaver supporters face enough adversity without battling each other. While we may disagree over details most of the posters here are on the same page. Jack has show a lot more ability to let things slide. JB

Undersized true frosh? Only Eldredge comes in with any size issues. Three of those listed are walk-ons themselves. And the fourth has always had issues with passion for the game.

I always harp about not recruiting enough big trench players as a rule for each recruiting class. So I’m not going to argue with the idea that we should be worried. What I will take exception to is everyone getting upset over attrition. That is precisely why you stack each class with the big bodies. The O-line is about 22% of the starting line-up, so the roster should reflect that. When your roster is only 12-15% O-linemen, then natural attrition will hurt.

Thus, we are always here talking about recruiting. It doesn’t take the experience of putting your hand on a hot stove to know that hurts. Why does it take some brilliant football mind to understand what hurts in terms of depth? We can see the pain coming from years away, and all we get for an argument is, “I think [coach so-and-so] knows more about this than you do.”

Well I think [coach so-and-so] over at Perennial Winner State or [coach so-and-so] at Always Winning U both know something too. And they seem to handle the same issues the waymany of us would like to see these issues handled. Why are they so wrong?

I’ve heard nothing about Hansen except that he was definitely going to redshirt this year… as a walk-on.

Garner was originally a signee who then went on a mission and returned as a walk-on. I think he did get a ship after a year of walk-on status. But again, he did not have the passion for the game after his mission. And I think in the end he spent enough time at OSU to graduate. When you have your diploma in hand and have a family and injuries and a bunch of good frosh coming in who are going to push you out of a football job at the age of 25… what would you do?

Mitchell may be light in the butt at 275, but he has some very good skills as a road grader. Bays, Weinreich, Andrews and Seumalo on top of that?

Could it be that most of these walk-ons can’t afford tuition? Maybe its not so much their drive, but they can’t handle the cost? With some available schollies would that be something that would have kept them? Maybe that is not the case but something to consider?